The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1925 film)

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
Directed by Arthur Shirley
Produced by Arthur Shirley
Written by Arthur Shirley
Based on novel by Fergus Hume
Starring Arthur Shirley
Godfrey Cass
Cinematography Lacey Percival
Production
company
Pyramid Pictures
Distributed by Alec Hellmrich
Release dates
 7 February 1925
Running time
 10,000 feet
Country Australia
Language Silent film
English intertitles
Budget £2,500
Box office ₤15,000[1]

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is a 1925 Australian silent film directed by and starring Arthur Shirley based on the popular novel which had already been filmed in 1911. It is considered a lost film.

Plot

Oliver Whyte is found murdered in a hansom cab in Melbourne. Brian Fitzgerald (Arthur Shirley) is arrested for the crime and brought to trial, but is acquitted at the last minute by Sal Rawlin, a missing witness who produces an alibi. The mystery involves Brian's fiancee, Madge (Grace Glover).

Cast

Background

This was Shirley's directorial debut. He had started filming a South Seas romance called The Throwback in 1920 but had been unable to complete it. He subsequently sued his cinematographer, Ernest Higgins, but lost the case and had to declare bankruptcy.

Shirley managed to recover and establish a new company, Pyramid Pictures, with the backing of several Melbourne businessman, including Gilbert M. Johnson.[2] Pyramid signed Shirley to a seven-year contract in April 1924, at £20 a week while making a movie, £15 a week otherwise.[3]

Cora Warner, who appeared in the support cast, ran the theatrical boarding house in Woolloomooloo where Shirley was staying.

Production

Filming began in February 1924 and took five months to photograph. Many of the scenes were in Melbourne on the steps of Parliament House, in the Fitzroy Gardens, and also St. Kilda Road. Interiors ere shot in Sydney at a studio in Rushcutters Bay. It was the first movie in Australia to run for ten reels and use double exposure.[4]

Reception

The movie received good reviews and was a major commercial success, with The Sydney Morning Herald saying that it played "to a greatly interested audience."[4][5]

References

  1. ↑ Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press, 1989 p82
  2. ↑ "THE CINEMA WORLD.". The Mercury. Hobart, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 30 November 1923. p. 9. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  3. ↑ "PICTURE PRODUCER.". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 2 July 1925. p. 6. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  4. 1 2 Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 125.
  5. ↑ "AUSTRALIAN PICTURE.". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 21 January 1925. p. 17. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
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